He probably presents a very low risk; it's more the principle of not making exceptions to the rules for someone entering the country just to play tennis.
Couldn't he make the whole problem go away by just getting vaccinated!?
Couldn't he make the whole problem go away by just getting vaccinated!?
Sure, I mean when coerced by powerful governments people usually comply. Those with character sometimes don't.
Note, you're 100% not making any medical argument for the vaccine.
The really important part about this is that the Australian government promised him and arranged for him to come to Australia then went back on their word after they got political egg on their face when it was noted by the Australian public that the government's coercive policy is arbitrary and unrelated to health outcomes.
I don't like the argument that some people have to suffer because others already have had to. A fact: Novak represents a very low risk. He has had very regular testing and has antibodies from previous infections. Making the argument that he should suffer to make it even for others who have suffered is a very low and ugly argument. I think that it's especially bad to lock someone up so that the government can save face.
Finally, Novak is a god in Serbia. It was especially dumb to alienate a country for the dumbest of reasons.
Are you sure about that narrative?
And when you state “Australian government” are you referring to the federal government? State government (Victoria), border force? Department of immigration? Tennis Australia?
Likewise, you’re very welcome to come to my house for dinner next week. But if you print off this comment and present it to immigration...
I note that those are the same rules for everyone. The government however decided to override the medical panel (and in doing so undermine its independence) because it was politically awkward for the government and in doing so completely unnecessarily detain Djokovic and put him through all of this. It's hugely embarrassing to Australia on the world stage.
His application was approved apon his declaration of meeting the criteria. The criteria was verified on arrival.
If you can source the medical panel being for immigration exceptions I'd be very interested.
What would he gain from that? He has natural antibodies from prior infection, and the vaccine very clearly does not stop, or reduce, transmission (in the light of Omicron).
I’m not from Serbia but I live nearby, speak pretty much the same language, and culturally Montenegro is very close. Over here, many people are generally skeptical towards media, and most people are skeptical towards statements of our own government. Due to such cultural traits, public perception of COVID is rather diverse here. For instance, despite vaccines are freely available for almost a year now (I think I got a first vaccine shot in April 2021), only about 50% of population (myself included) are vaccinated.
Just because Đoković attended a public event after testing positive doesn’t mean he’s lying about the test. He might simply think it’s not a huge deal. Maybe he’s a bit careless, but I think “giant asshole” wording is too strong. Other people attending the event were adults fully aware of COVID pandemic, they were free to skip the event, they were free to wear masks if they wanted.
Also, there’s lots of research showing that positive COVID test doesn’t mean the person is infectious. For instance [0] says “people can continue to test positive for up to 3 months after diagnosis and not be infectious to others… the amount of live virus in the nose and throat drops significantly soon after COVID-19 symptoms develop”
[0] https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s0814-updated-isolat...
Endangering everyone by knowingly spreading a disease, regardless of the type, is being an asshole in my book. Regardless of his personal scepticism. Indeed, a positive test doesn't mean infectious, but it sure as hell doesn't mean zero risk and just go mingle with people. That's much more than "a bit reckless".
For the record, I'm originally from nearby, Bulgaria, and COVID and vaccine hesitancy and skepticism is even worse than Serbia. That doesn't in any way mean people who chose to follow their feelings of fear and mistrust, and ignore any sort of basic logic or established facts aren't really really stupid. They probably can't help it, but the rest of us can't excuse their behaviour. They should know better, and two years in, it's a 100% their fault when they do stupid things like get sick and not even have the basic decency to wear a mask. ( And i know i won't convince anyone with those sorts of words, but honestly at that point they're beyond convincing)